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August 5, 2007

G111: Red Sox 9, Mariners 2

All of the top four teams in the East won today. Sorry, Tampa Bay.

The Red Sox bats came alive: doubles from Coco (2), Youkilis, Lugo, Cora, Pedroia; a triple from Drew; and a home run from Manny. Eight of the 13 hits were extra-base hits -- or, as they used to call them, long hits. The Mariners staff also doled out eight walks.

Beckett (6.2-8-1-2-9, 107) pitched out of several minor jams, before Jeemer, MDC and Synder finished up.

Batista has allowed three or fewer earned runs in 15 of 21 starts this season. He has not started against the Red Sox since August 24, 2004; his last appearance against Boston was on September 29, 2005. Both Manny Ramirez (8-for-20, 1 HR, 4 RBI) and David Ortiz (6-for-16, 2 HR, 7 RBI) have hit him well.

The Red Sox (67-43) are the only team playing .600+ ball. They have also lost the fewest road games of any team (23).

Ironically, I was DDing for the specific purpose of setting an example for the other person in the car, who has a habit of having a few then driving. My "time to smarten up" remark was just more a reflection on the way my life has been going...

Last night, ball hit to same spot, Manny on second, plays it halfway, ball caught, can't get to third. Remy says it's the right play by Manny. On today's ball, I take it Ortiz was tagging at second, because he didn't make it home. But they don't say that it's the wrong play. So which is it?

"- I don't think many people follow things like Pythagorean Whateveritis without watching at least some share of games"

But that measurement comes only from the runs scored/allowed. You could score 500 runs in one game, then lose all your others, and that "theory" will say "you should be a .500 team, but incredibly, you're 1-161." Also doesn't consider how good a team "should" be based on what players they have, nor does it take into consideration that all teams don't have the same amount of $ to work with. Nor does it account for tack-on runs.

"The only thing that tells you how teams stand in relation to each other is numbers. "

Yeah, the number of wins and losses! But if you do want to say "this team should have more/less wins," shouldn't you be looking at stats AND actually have seen that team play, be familiar with who's injured, etc, etc?

Also doesn't consider how good a team "should" be based on what players they have, nor does it take into consideration that all teams don't have the same amount of $ to work with. Nor does it account for tack-on runs.

That measure does not purport to do any of those things. Jere, you're spouting irrelevancies.

You don't have to like using those measures. You can completely ignore them. They're just there to use if you want to.

No one can watch and remember every play of every game. And you physically can't watch of all two games at one time, never mind 30 games. So numbers give us a way to measure certain things. They don't measure everything, and no one says that they do.

"No one can watch and remember every play of every game. And you physically can't watch of all two games at one time, never mind 30 games. So numbers give us a way to measure certain things. They don't measure everything, and no one says that they do."

But I said I agree with you about that. I'm just saying, if you only look at that, how is that different from looking at the stats of a dice-rolling baseball league. Stuff in dice rolling can be "random," but it's different when it's actual people.

When the Yankees finished with the 9th (? - might be wrong, but something like that) best record in baseball but won the World Series, Yankee haters were all about how they didn't deserve to win, how fucked up it was that a team with that record could win the WS. But the fact is they did win, and they did it under the system as presently set-up.

I bet I can guess which side of that argument you were on at the time, Jere.

"I bet I can guess which side of that argument you were on at the time, Jere."

When the Cards won, people were pised about it, cuz they had a not-that-great record. I didn't care at all. They won the World Series. Believe me, it makes just as mad when the Yanks have the best record and dominate and win the WS than when they're not as good and still win. What season are you talking about, though?

(Note: My "expected" record of the 98 Yanks is 81-81! I still can't believe they kept winning and winning.... worst 118-win team in baseball history!)

you can never truly tell the worth of any one ballplayer based on any one stat

If anyone ever tells you that, they are completely full of poop.

What's wrong with realizing that batting average, RBI, fielding percentage, picther record (to name four) are significantly flawed ways to measure a player's contributions and trying to come up with a better, more accurate way?

Well, they won the division every year they won the WS. I honestly don't remember in any of those years thinking "they didn't have enough wins, they don't deserve to win." (I just ALWAYS think they don't "deserve" to win. Ha.)

If you mean when the Ms had that huge year and then laid down and died for the Yanks, yes, I was totally pissed. Totally. But I never said, "the system's unfair" about that. In fact, I've always said how much I hate the Wild Card, and 2004 didn't change my mind on my feelings on it--though I wouldn't trade the WS win for anything, of course.

Our dugout is yelling at a Moose. I bet Gameday's not telling you that.

CActually one of the luckier teams would be the Sox as they have out performed the pythag 3 of the last 5 years (06, 05, and 02). The other two years they were exactly at the pythag. Cumulative score of 13.

remy: "whaaaa! whaaa! we get into the hotel at 4am. whaa!! i get paid to watch the red sox and hawk my fucking t-shirts. whaa! whaaa! my tv is only 72 inches wide! maybe if i kiss the ass of another sponsor, they'll give me a bigger one! whaa! whaa! my life sucks!"

I am sick of all announcers complaining about the weather, the travel, the lack of sleep, the whatever. Remy's one of the worst, since he only goes to the games and other than that never leaves his hotel room.

The latest thing I hate about Remy's sponsor-mania: When Don's saying the sponsors of the game, and he says "Sovereign Bank," and Rem, who does ads for them, chimes in with "great bank!" Funny once, maybe, but we get the picture. No need to do it eevry time.

Remy is maddening, but compared to what I hear on other stations, I end up giving him some leeway. Having said that (whoah..what a cath!) I could use with a little less of the relentless productwhoring.